We'll never know

I was leaving a grocery store today with a friend when we spotted this man with his arms in one of the bins of the large recycle station in the back of the parking lot. My friend and I watched him for awhile trying to figure out what he was doing. I saw him take out some paper products from the bin and place them in the blue cart in front of him. Why was he going through the recycle bin? Even though my mind wanted answers, I guess we'll never know the real reason for sure.

What I did figure out is that this photo would be a great exercise in fact-inference confusion. I could easily use it in the chapter on perception. There could be several possibilities for the man's behavior. Why did I think the worst? What did I know for sure as a fact and what did I just infer? What biases and stereotypes came into play leading me to make that first quick judgment? What did you think when you first saw the picture?

R: 2.88 miles 24 min 52 sec